Scotland offered more powers for ‘no’ vote
British finance minister George Osborne said that plans would be set out in the coming days to give Scotland more autonomy on tax, spending and welfare if Scots vote against independence in a historic referendum on September 18.
Prime Minister David Cameron had, ironically, vetoed a third ballot option for greater devolution, betting that the stark choice of yes or no to independence would deliver a clear victory for the status quo as cautious voters turned away from an uncertain future.
That looked like a precarious calculation after a YouGov poll for the Sunday Times showed supporters of independence had taken their first opinion poll lead since the referendum campaign began.
With less than two weeks to go before the vote, the poll put the ‘Yes’ to independence campaign on 51% and the ‘No’ camp on 49%, overturning a 22-point lead for the unionist position in just a month.
“You will see in the next few days a plan of action to give more powers to Scotland... Then Scotland will have the best of both worlds. They will both avoid the risks of separation but have more control over their own destiny, which is where I think many Scots want to be,” Osborne said.
“More tax-raising powers, much greater fiscal autonomy... more control over public expenditure, more control over welfare rates and a host of other changes.” Osborne said the changes, being agreed by all three major parties in the British parliament, would be put into effect the moment there was a ‘no’ vote in the referendum.
His comments echo those of former British prime minister Gordon Brown, who said he would spearhead a push for Scotland to gain more powers if it voted against independence.
Scotland already enjoys a large measure of devolution, having had its own parliament since 1999 with the power to legislate in policy areas such as education, health, the environment, housing and justice.
Further devolution could see all powers handed over except defence and foreign affairs. Polls have previously shown many Scots would favour this over outright independence, and Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond had unsuccessfully pushed to have it as an option on the referendum ballot paper.
Nicola Sturgeon, deputy leader of the pro-independence Scottish National Party, welcomed the YouGov poll as a “very significant moment” in the campaign but rejected talk of more devolved powers for Scotland.
“I don’t think people are going to take this seriously. If the other parties had been serious about more powers, then something concrete would have been put forward before now and remember the other parties were desperate to keep that option off the ballot paper,” she told Sky news.
Salmond described the plans as a “panic measure”.
“This is a ridiculous position being put forward by a campaign... in terminal trouble,” he told the BBC. “They have failed to scare the Scots, now they are trying to bribe us. That won’t work either as people have come to the realisation we can take the future of this country into our hands.”
After months of surveys showing nationalists heading for defeat, recent polls have seen the gap narrow to the extent that they raise the real prospect that secessionists could achieve their goal of breaking the 307-year-old union with England.
“A two-point gap is too small for us to call the outcome. But the fact that the contest is too close to call is itself remarkable, ” YouGov president Peter Kellner wrote on his blog.
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